Moonlight Blade, Crimson Fan
by Minerva32
Summary: Kagura and Sesshoumaru combine forces to eliminate Naraku and grow to... appreciate each other?...
1. Chapter 1

_I most certainly do not own Inuyasha._

_M32_

Kagura stood at the edge of a sheer drop, looking down into the valley two miles below. "Perhaps," she thought "If I jump, I would break my neck on impact."

She studied the ground below impassively. "No. I am not that brave. I wouldn't condemn myself to death. I'd catch myself before halfway." If only Naraku was dead! Damn the bastard to a thousand hells… She looked into the valley where the half demon and his companions rested, unaware of his latest scheme. Kagura shook her head. She'd be lucky if she made it out of the encounter in tact. But of course, it didn't matter much to her. She was all too aware she'd meet her end before her time, either by the enemies of Naraku, or Naraku himself.

She swept around, scarlet kimono billowing in a magical breeze as she pulled her loose hair tight behind her head. "Death is inevitable." She said aloud in somber, rich tones. "The only difference is the way you die. You experience it once, or a thousand times. Isn't that right, Lord Sesshoumaru?"

The dog demon's saffron eyes narrowed and he glided out of the shadows, a white apparition in the night. "Kagura. What are you doing here?"

She flicked her fan open. "Shouldn't I be asking you the same thing?" She turned her gaze to the light of a campfire in the valley with an ironic smirk. "Of course, I don't need to ask."

Jaken popped out from behind the folds of the demon lord's robes, shaking his grotesque little stick. "Answer Lord Sesshoumaru's question!"

Kagura raised one elegant eyebrow. "And what if I decide against it?"

Jaken huffed and puffed furiously. "Then you will answer to the lord's wrath!"

Sesshoumaru's hand flickered into his robes and out again, and Kagura's veins surged with battle sense, knuckles white as they clenched around her fan and she crouched to avoid the inevitable flash of sword. But it never came.

She looked up. The youkai was all too amused. She frowned and stood, brushing the dirt from the hem of her robes and retaining as much dignity as she could. "What is that?" She asked coldly, regarding the small package in his clawed fingers.

"It is a token of esteem." He said with short regality, expressionless.

Kagura tapped her fan on the palm of her hand. She looked at him. "How do I know this isn't a trap?"

He looked straight back with eyes of amber ice that cut her faster than any blade. "What do you have to lose?"

Kagura was silent. She took the package from his outstretched hand. It was small, and wrapped crudely in plain rice paper. Perhaps Rin had done it. The Great Lord Sesshoumaru undoubtedly found himself too important for gift-wrapping.

She slit it open with the tips of her nails. A box, with the dog clan symbol embossed on the top. Kagura was impressed. "You certainly know the traditions of a pact."

"It would be foolish not to."

She once again met his eyes, unable to resist the temptation of that surge of respect and awe he always seemed to bring. He gazed right back, stoic as always, though she felt he noticed her studying of him. She also felt that he didn't care for it much. She turned her attention back to the gift and gently lifted the lid.

She caught her breath. A mirror. A beautiful mirror with a pearl handle. On the back was her name etched into the silver backing. Her fingers encircled it almost covetously in wonderment. No one had ever given her a gift before.

"…Do you like it?"

"Yes, yes I…" She stopped, blushing and remembering herself and turning her eyes to the ground. When she looked up again she had regained a sense of business. "I do. But that isn't the point. What do you want?"

He turned his head, the moonlight striking the smooth yet firm angle of his white jaw. "Naraku. Just like you."

She almost started in surprise. "Naraku? I thought you were after that half breed brother of yours?" It wasn't until after she'd spoken that she realized he'd accused her of her innermost desire. Freedom. She chose to let it slide. What was done was done.

Sesshoumaru glittered with disdainful annoyance, like a prince speaking of a disobedient servant. "He had become irksome to me, and I wish him to be over with, along with Inuyasha's business with him. One Naraku is gone, I will be free to deal with my brother as I please."

Kagura snickered. "Irksome is not a word generally applied to Naraku. I doubt he'd care for it."

Sesshoumaru's lips tweaked into some semblance of humor. "I doubt he would."

She turned from him, looking over the edge once again to view Inuyasha and his companions. "What of your brother and his friends?"

Sesshoumaru sniffed indifferently. "Who says they need to know until it's over? Inuyasha wouldn't notice a hurricane unless it affected him or his wench."

"The demon slayer might notice. That Sango. She's by far the sharpest of the bunch."

"The monk is too busy heeding the call of desire to notice a stir in the winds." Sesshoumaru added.

They looked at each other, exchanging smiles, but at such a meeting of eyes they grew uncomfortable and turned away again.

"We should prepare." Sesshoumaru said, statuesque once again.

Kagura nodded. "Let's begin."


	2. Chapter 2

_I still don't own Inuyasha._

_M32_

Naraku gazed out his window, dark brow creased. Where was Kagura? She was late. Perhaps it was time to remind her of her duties.

He took a velvet lined box from a shelf, opening it to reveal Kagura's beating heart, which lay inside. He emptied it into the palm of his hand, where he clenched it in his fingers.

Ten miles away, Kagura fell into a spasm, clutching her chest.

Sesshoumaru bent to catch her, concerned for the safety of their plan, for he could not succeed without her.

"Kagura!" His eyes anxiously searched the lines of pain in her face, trying to make sense of her sudden affliction. "Come out of it! Kagura!"

Her eyelids fluttered; she was panting hard past lips that were white like china.

He pressed her hand, not knowing what he could do to help her, and all too aware of the forces that were already at work against them.

At last, she opened her eyes, scarlet orbs clouded with restrained rage.

"Naraku." Sesshoumaru said quietly.

"Naraku." She replied, avoiding his gaze. She hated to be weak in his eyes more than anything else. She couldn't falter, not now. Not when she could almost taste freedom.

He wordlessly set her on her feet, and she dusted her kimono for the second time that evening. "He's wondering where I am." She informed him.

Sessoumaru's lips curved into a delicious smirk. "Then it's time he finds out."

Kagura stared at him. "So soon?"

"We have no time to waste, Kagura."

She answered with a silent nod.

He walked before her for the rest of the night, and they did not trade words, lost in their thoughts. She watched the shift of his white silk robes in the moonlight, considering him in her mind. Lord Sesshoumaru. The man was practically made of moonlight, moonlight and steel. Kagura had always been able to decipher the workings of a person's mind; the little things that made them think and feel and act the way they did. But Sesshoumaru was different. He was something more than just a powerful demon, she knew that. But what? It puzzled and tweaked at her curiosity, for no one could bear an unsolved puzzle less than Kagura could. And Sesshoumaru was a particularly attractive puzzle.

She tried her hardest not to fear the battle that lie ahead. After all, her choices were freedom or death. Sure, death was more likely, but she'd never even seen an opening for release before this moment. It was a chance she was willing to take. What did she have to lose?

To keep her mind on track and far from anxiousness, she continued to watch the movements of Sesshoumaru.

It didn't take long for the youkai to notice, and less for him to say something. "What is it, Kagura?" He asked, ennui covering his annoyance.

Kagura languidly blinked her ochre eyes as if coming out of a dream. "Hm? It's nothing, Sesshoumaru."

His eyes narrowed, skeptical. "I'm sure."

She arched her eyebrows, now fully awake. "What do you mean by that?"

Without so much as a twitch, he turned away from her and began to walk again.

Kagura scowled in irritation, but she said nothing. So much for keeping a focus on the job! He couldn't even handle so much of a sideways glance!

The pale faced moon rose cold over the darkening forest, and they traversed on in silence.

Sesshoumaru was the first to spy Naraku's castle on the horizon, and he held up an hand to signal a halt. Kagura came to stand beside him.

"I'm afraid." she said.

Sesshoumaru looked at her sharply, with a certain amount of anger in his gaze. "That is no was to feel before a battle." He said harshly.

Kagura snorted. "Please. Only a fool tries to deny fear. It is wise to acknowledge fear; then it is faced along with your opponent, instead of striking in your mind like a thief to distract you."

Sesshoumaru was silent.

The miasma around the castle twitched at his sensitive nose. "Is this the barrier?"

"The first. There are seven we must pass."

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. Kagura chuckled. "Cliché, I know. But it isn't much of a problem." She reached into her satchel, taking a tiny down feather and letting it rest in her palm for a moment, and it burst into an enormous plume of a vessel that could carry them both.

Sesshoumaru looked at it, respect in his eyes. Kagura saw this and smirked. "It _is _nice, isn't it?"

He quickly wiped his face blank. "I suppose."

She laughed, throwing back her elegant head, and gracefully half leaped half fluttered to the head of the feather, looking back at him. "Come on! It's time to go!"

In an instant, Sesshoumaru was behind her. She felt his strong hands encircle her arms, assuring he wouldn't fall, and she felt her skin prickle. "You're uneasy." He said, warm breath tickling the nape of her neck.

Kagura closed her crimson eyes at the sensation, old discipline immediately banishing it. "Of course. We've been through this."

And as always, he said nothing. The feather rose into the sky without hesitation at her command.

Castle Naraku loomed ahead like a monster of shadow and poison clouds. Kagura clenched her teeth. The end was nigh. She would be free, or die trying.

End chapter two. Comments always welcome, friends! More will be coming, but I'm working on my novel right now, and that has top priority. Please comment, it always helps me put pen to paper again! Thanks for your support!

M


	3. Chapter 3

_I still do not own Inuyasha._

_M32_

Sesshoumaru's eyes flickered to an fro as they entered the first barrier. Kagura wasn't afraid. She'd gone through this barrier many times. She'd never encountered any problems before…

A crash of thunder interrupted her thoughts.

"Naraku!" Sesshoumaru growled.

"No shit." Kagura grumbled, then said louder, "Hang on."

She shrugged herself down closer to the body of the feather, and he followed suit. Another flash of lightening, purple lightning, made Kagura swerve and curse vehemently. "We're going to break through. Just stay down."

She took the continuing silence as an okay.

She sped the craft into a dive, pulling up to graze along the tall grass around the edges of the castle ground. She felt nails digging into her arms and laughed. "Afraid of heights?"

"Are you out of your mind?" He snarled. "We almost crashed!"

"I know what I'm doing." She sniffed, yanking the feather to the side to miss another crackle of electricity.

The dog demon groaned, unable to hide his smile.

There was a boom, and Sesshoumaru looked up and sniffed the air. "We broke the first barrier, didn't we?"

"That's right."

The lightening continued, along with a few barrages of minor minions that the two of them easily annihilated. They passed the second barrier, and the third, and the fourth.

Sesshoumaru frowned as he dispatched of another ugly but relatively harmless fiend. "Is this the best he can do?"

Kagura let out a mirthless laugh. "He's playing with us. Perhaps even trying to tire us on these pests so we can't fight at top skill later."

Sesshoumaru growled, more demon than human, and his eyes flashed a brief ruby akin to Kagura's. She felt her skin prickle. "We'll see who plays with who."

Her kimono and his robes billowed out like the wings of a bird as their velocity increased. The clouds of miasma grew darker and more pungent, and Sesshoumaru covered his nose and narrowed his watering eyes. Kagura coughed and made the feather fly faster, shoving her sleeve over her face.

They sped through the fifth barrier.

"Do you think we'll survive?" She asked suddenly.

"This Sesshoumaru will never die." Was his reply.

Kagura glanced back at him. "That's an interesting turn of phrase. Speech impediment?"

The frigid silence she received was reward enough for her remark. She grinned to herself, a grin that quickly disappeared. "Shit!"

While she had been looking back at her companion, Kagura had failed to notice a demon the size of Mt. Fugi opening its mouth in preparation for them to fly right in.

Sesshoumaru stood up, balancing as he drew his sleeves back from the claws that already dripped with a corrosive poison. Kagura wrinkled her nose and flew in, and then out the other side again.

Sesshoumaru let the acid on his claws burn up the blood before he willed it away with a self satisfied grin.

"Yeah, yeah, bigshot, save it for Naraku."

They'd past the sixth.

"One more." Sesshoumaru said.

"I warn you, it won't be as easy as the others. Naraku is a coward at heart, Sesshoumaru."

Sesshoumaru tried to peer through the clouds. "I'm aware. Let's be quick about it."

The silence that fell was an ominous one, with the wind whistling past their ears. Kagura could feel the tension in Sesshoumaru's muscles through her clothes.

"Afraid?" She asked him.

"This Sesshoumaru is never afraid!" He snapped, but then to her amazement finished softly, "Unless he would be a fool not to be."

Kagura jumped, then smiled. Sesshoumaru was never predictable. "Like your brother?"

His smirk was audible. "Yes. Very much like my brother."

Everything was getting darker. So dark that Kagura could hardly see. Sesshoumaru's hands wrapped around hers to help her steer. "It's a spell. Only a full-blooded demon can see through a darkness like this."

Kagura started. He was right. As Naraku's creation she was a half demon. She was different from Sesshoumaru. "You'd better know how to steer." She muttered.

"I've been watching."

They'd slowed down as a precaution, and the still air and the darkness were stifling, like an enclosed room. Kagura felt her breathing catch. As a creature of wind, she'd always been claustrophobic.

Sesshoumaru scented her fear and held her a little tighter in reassurance. His mind raced. Reassurance? A demon lord offering reassurance? He thought his own unease was getting the best of him, so he shoved it aside.

"I'll tear him to ribbons!" He growled below his breath.

The silence grew heavier, and with it came a presence that stank of an ancient evil.

Blind, Kagura began to shake. "Sesshoumaru, what is it?"


End file.
